Homebrewing Resources

Here are a few of my favorite resources for all things homebrewing. This is in no way exhaustive, but rather a starting point for learning the craft. I will update this list over time, as I find new and interesting brewing resources. Of course, Googling can answer many of your questions, but use the following books and sites as more comprehensive, authoritative sources of information.

Books

How to Brew, by John Palmer. If you have only one book on brewing, this should be it. Also, check out his website, which includes a free digital copy of the first edition.

Brewing Classic Styles, by Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer. This is an excellent guide for brewing most well-known styles of beer, along with sample recipes.

Designing Great Beers, by Ray Daniels. A great resource for recipe development, and learning the techniques necessary to make great beers.

American Sour Beers, by Michael Tonsmeire. If sour beers are your thing, or you want them to be, you need this book.

Blogs

Brulosophy – Marshall and the gang design and execute different ‘exbeeriments’ on a weekly basis, submit them to double blind testing, and report the results of each test. Fantastic.

The Mad Fermentationist – Michael Tonsmeire’s blog, with plenty of sour beer recipes and additional information that complements the book well.

ScottJanish.com – beer blog by the website’s namesake with a heavy scientific tilt. I often have to reference my old biochemistry textbooks to fully understand Scott’s research. Mostly focused on clean, hop-forward beers.

Forums

Homebrewtalk – countless threads on everything beer and homebrewing. Some topics are dated, but still a great place to start.

Probrewer – a forum for commercial breweries. However, professionals encounter many of the same issues as us homebrewers, and often get into more technical conversations than on homebrewer-focused sites, which I can appreciate.

r/Homebrewing – reddit is fast becoming my go-to source for homebrewing discussions, due to its dynamic nature and myriad contributors. The internet is a wonderful thing!

Additionally, one of the most important resources for improving your homebrewing skills is interacting with other homebrewers. Join a local homebrewing club or Facebook group. Go to a meeting and find out about other local homebrewing events. Many homebrew club members will invite other members over for a Brew Day. Attend, and ask lots of questions. As I’ve mentioned, this is a social hobby, and the socialization aspect will help you tremendously.